A large sign reading Believe hangs near the escalators at Macy's in the Bridgewater Commons mall in November 2011.Frank H. Conlon/The Star-Ledger

BRIDGEWATER — A state appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against Bridgewater Commons mall over an October 2007 incident where a girl was injured by a metal panel on an escalator at the shopping center.

In a decision released Friday, appellate judges found that Alin Espinoza and her father, Hector Espinoza, failed to prove negligence on the parts of the mall and Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corporation, which was contracted to maintain the escalators at the mall.

The appellate decision affirmed a lower court’s ruling in June 2012 that dismissed the Espinozas’ lawsuit against the mall and Thyssenkrupp.

“There is nothing in this record to establish that the incident was the fault of either the Mall or Thyssenkrupp other than the occurrence of the incident itself,” according to the appellate decision.

George Goceljak, the attorney representing the Espinozas, did not respond today to requests for comment.

Alin Espinoza, whose age is not provided in the appellate decision, was injured on Oct. 21, 2007 while riding an ascending escalator with her parents and two sisters, the decision states. A metal panel “presumably fell off the side of the escalator and lacerated her right shin,” the decision states.

But the child could not identify from where or how the metal panel came toward her, the decision states. Her father, who did not see the panel dislodge from the escalator assembly, also said he didn’t know how it came off, the decision states.

The Espinozas failed to provide an expert opinion to explain the exact cause of the accident, the decision states.

“While plaintiffs were not required to exclude all other possible causes of the incident, they were at least required to establish that it is more probable than not that one or the other defendant’s conduct, particularly the manner in which the escalator was maintained, was a proximate cause of the accident,” the decision states. “This was not done here.”